Content delivery in virtual social networks

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for content delivery in virtual social networks are provided. Content may be provided to the virtual social network by users of the virtual social network, professional content developers, etc. Any content provided to the virtual social network may be stored in a content database and tagged based on the type of content. The tags associated with the content may be compared to information concerning the various users of the virtual social network. The content may be provided to the user based on matching of the tags and user information. In various embodiments of the present invention, the content may be provided to communities based on matches between content tags and community information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 60/855,011 filed Oct. 27, 2006 and entitled“Systems and Methods for Managing Privacy and Tracking of CommunityMembers,” U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/854,990 filedOct. 27, 2006 and entitled “Cross-Population of Vertical Communities andGraphic User Interface for Navigating Between Vertical Communities,” andU.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/855,133 filed Oct. 27,2006 and entitled “Systems and Method for Providing Content to VerticalCommunities,” the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of virtual socialnetworks. More specifically, the present invention relates to contentdelivery in virtual social networks.

2. Description of Related Art

Various virtual social networks allow a user to connect and interactwith other individuals. Each user of a social network may choose tointeract with certain other users of the virtual social network and formconnections with those users. One type of interaction includes the usersharing information and content with other users in the virtual socialnetwork. A user may post content, including articles, blogs, pictures,video, etc. and share such content with other users. The user may alsowish to share such content with a group of users. For example, if theuser is a member of a community of music fans, the user may post anaudio file of the user singing a cover of The Beatles' “Yesterday.” Thecontent would be available to anyone in the group to download, listen,give feedback, etc.

One way for users to meet and interact is through a community in thevirtual social network. Created by an administrator, an individual user,or the like, a community represents an aggregation of users within thevirtual social network who typically share something in common. Acommunity is, therefore, generally directed toward a particular subjectmatter. Users with an interest in the subject matter may join thecommunity and interact with other users with a similar interest. Thesubject matter may be, for example, social, hobby-related, fan-related,or business-related. A user may choose to create or join variouscommunities corresponding with any of that user's interests. A communitycan allow for various activities, including posting content such asarticles, blogs, photos, or video.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides methods for content delivery in a virtualsocial network. Various types of content may be provided to the virtualsocial network by various users of the virtual social network, variousprofessional content developers, etc. The types of content may includearticles, blogs, photos, video, advertising, etc. Any content providedto the virtual social network is stored in a content database and taggedbased on the type of content. The tags associated with the content arecompared to information concerning the various users of the virtualsocial network. If the tags match a user's interests, for example,beyond a threshold level, the content is automatically provided to theuser. Content may also be delivered to a user based on the user'sdemographic information, geographical information, community membershipinformation, and participation in debates, surveys, polls, and the like.In various embodiments of the present invention, the content may befiltered by author preference, target preference, community rules, etc.

An exemplary method comprises receiving content that has been providedto the virtual social network. Then, information concerning relevancyflags associated with various potential targets is evaluated todetermine whether to provide the content to those potential targets.Potential targets include users and communities of the virtual socialnetwork. Specifically, the relevancy flags are compared to the one ormore tags associated with the content to determine whether there are anymatches beyond a threshold level. The relevancy flags may include userinterests designated in a user profile, community membership, communityinterests designated in a community profile, related communities, useractivity within the virtual social network, etc. Further, the contentmay be filtered based on various preferences and rules. If the contentpasses the filters, the content may then be provided to the target. Thepresent invention also provides a computer-readable storage mediumhaving stored thereupon executable computing instructions for performingthe method just described.

The present invention also provides systems for content delivery in avirtual social network. An exemplary system comprises a contentdatabase, a target database, a relevancy module, and a content pushmodule. In some embodiments of the present invention, the system mayfurther comprise a content filter to prevent delivery to a target basedon various preferences and rules, including author preferences, targetpreferences, community rules, virtual social network rules, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a web-based implementation of a virtualsocial network, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of content delivery to a user of a virtualsocial network, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of content delivery to a community in avirtual social network, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a system for content delivery in a virtualsocial network, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for content delivery in avirtual social network, according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention provides methods for content delivery in a virtualsocial network. The content may be provided to the virtual socialnetwork by users of the virtual social network, professional contentdevelopers, etc. Such content may be subscribed to, requested, orotherwise voluntarily accessed by individual users and communities ofusers in the virtual social network. The content may also be providedwithout having been requested to certain users based on relevance of thecontent to the users' interests. Relevance is determined by comparingtags associated with the content with the interests of the users.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a web-based implementation of a virtualsocial network 110, according to an exemplary embodiment. The virtualsocial network 110, comprising users module 120, communities module 130,and content delivery module 140, is accessible to exemplary users 160Aand 160B through a network 150, such as the Internet or an intranet.Users 160A and 160B each have a respective user profile 125A and 125B,managed by users module 120. Communities module 130 manages profiles forvarious communities, such as community profiles 135A and 135B forexemplary communities A and B (not pictured).

A module (or application), as referenced herein, should be generallyunderstood to be a collection of routines that perform varioussystem-level functions and may be dynamically loaded and unloaded byhardware and device drivers as required. The modular software componentsdescribed herein may also be incorporated as part of a larger softwareplatform or integrated as part of an application specific component.

Virtual social network 110 is configured to allow a user to create,manage, and maintain that user's collection of relationships with otherindividuals in a virtual environment. Virtual social network 110 allowsthe user to encounter, interact with, connect, and share informationwith new acquaintances that also use virtual social network 110. Usersmay share information with each other in various ways. For example,users may post certain information, such as interests and hobbies, intheir user profiles. A user may also participate in one of the variousactivity modules associated with the user's own profile, with anotheruser's profile, or with various communities in the virtual socialnetwork. Activity modules may include articles, blogs, pictures, video,etc.

Users module 120 stores and manages information concerning the users ofvirtual social network 110. Information concerning each user may beorganized, stored, and managed by users through their respective userprofiles. For example, information concerning exemplary users 160A and160B may be stored in user profile 125A and user profile 125B,respectively. Such information may include information entered by theuser, such as personal information, personal descriptions, interests,hobbies, etc. In some embodiments of the present invention, a userprofile may further include information about the various activities andinteractions involving the user within the virtual social network 110,such as membership in various communities, communities frequented by theuser, and user participation in various activities in the virtual socialnetwork. Further, each user profile may include various modules whichallow for the management of all of the information concerning the userwithin virtual social network 110.

Communities module 130 manages and stores information concerningcommunities in virtual social network 110. Communities may be directedtoward a variety of topics, ranging from broad topics to veryspecialized topics. Just as topics may be related or overlap, acommunity concerning cars, for example, may have related orsub-communities concerning racecars, antique cars, car maintenance, etc.Information concerning exemplary communities A and B may be stored incommunity profile 135A and community profile 135B, respectively, withincommunities module 130. Community profiles, like user profiles, mayinclude information concerning various interests, hobbies, relation toother communities, activities, and the like.

The user of virtual social network 110 may post content or post a linkto content, which may include written, artistic, photographic, orvarious other types of content. Likewise, a professional developer ofcontent may provide such content to a user, a community, or an activitymodule associated with a user or community in the virtual socialnetwork. A user may voluntarily subscribe to receive content fromdesignated sources in the virtual social network. Alternatively, contentdelivery module 140 allows for delivery of content to targets (i.e.,users who have not requested such content specifically), based oncertain relevancy flags associated with such targets. A target may alsobe a community of users in the virtual social network.

The relevancy flags considered by content delivery module 140 mayinclude user interests or hobbies designated in a user profile,community membership, community interests designated in a communityprofile, related communities, user activity in the virtual socialnetwork, etc. Such user activity may include the communities visited bythe user, the types of content viewed, the types of content posted,participation in various activities, and the like. A user may alsodesignate a preference for certain types of content (e.g., photos) andfor content from certain authors or groups of authors. The authors mayinclude other users or members of the virtual social network and/orvarious professional content developers. All such information may beconsidered as relevancy flags by content delivery module 140 indetermining whether to provide a particular target with the content.Some embodiments of the present invention allow for certain relevancyflags to be weighted more heavily in determining relevance of content tothe user.

For example, an article concerning a new type of car may be posted to acertain car community. A user who is not a member of the community, butwho has listed the specific car as an interest may be provided with thearticle. Further, another community that has listed the specific car asan interest may also be provided with the article. In variousembodiments of the present invention, the number of matches between thetags associated with the content and a target's relevancy flags may haveto exceed a certain threshold level to trigger delivery of the contentto the target.

The relevancy flags considered by content delivery module 140 mayinclude user interests or hobbies designated in a user profile,community membership, community interests designated in a communityprofile, related communities, user activity that has been tracked by thevirtual social network, etc. Such tracked user activity may include thecommunities visited by the user, the types of content viewed, the typesof content posted, and the like. All such information may be consideredas relevancy flags by content delivery module 140 in determining whetherto provide a particular target with the content.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of content delivery to a user 160A of avirtual social network 110, according to an exemplary embodiment. User160A may be provided content in various ways. One way is throughvoluntary subscription 210, which may include subscribing to certaincontent providers, certain communities, or specifically requesting andaccessing the content. For example, if user 160A is interested inpolitics, user 160A may join a community dedicated to discussingpolitics. User 160A may be provided with the content or notification ofthe content by, for example, e-mail, RSS feed, private message,hyperlink, or the like. In some embodiments, user 160A may subscribe toreceive all content or specific content (i.e., text only, pictures only,content provided by user 160B only) provided by another user (e.g., user160B), provided by a group of users, by a community, etc. For example,membership in a community may include a subscription to receive contentor notification of content provided in the community by other members orby content providers.

An alternative way for user 160A to be provided content is throughrelevancy matching 220 performed by content delivery module 140. User160A may not have specifically subscribed to or requested content, butuser 160A's profile and other associated records may indicate that user160A may have an interest in the content. For example, a user profileassociated with user 160A may indicate that user 160A is interested inall things related to The Beatles, the individual band members, allBeatles albums, movies, television appearances, etc. Further, user 160Amay be a member of one or more Beatles fan communities, have visitedvarious Beatles-related communities, blogged about The Beatles, andinteracted with other users with a similar interest in The Beatles. User160A would be a target to receive content related to The Beatles, asdetermined by relevancy matching 220. For example, an article about TheBeatles provided to the virtual social network may be associated withtags indicating that the article concerns The Beatles. Content deliverymodule 140 would compare the tags to user 160A's relevancy flags, andthen based on matches, provide the article to user 160A without user160A having to specifically request such article.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of content delivery to a community in avirtual social network 110, according to an exemplary embodiment.Content delivery module 140 provides content to Community A 310 involuntary and involuntary ways, such as user posting 320,inter-community content delivery 330, voluntary subscription 210, andrelevancy matching 220, described above. The content may then beprovided to user 160A through voluntary subscription 210, as user 160Amay be a member of Community A 310 or may have subscribed to receivecontent from Community A 310.

One way that community A 310 receives content is through user posting320. Members of community A 310 may participate in various activitiesincluding posting articles, blogs, event listings, pictures, video, etc.A user providing content is not necessarily a member of the community.Further, professional content developers may have special user accountsthat allow them to provide content to the community. User posting 320may also include content from, for example, network administrators,community moderators, etc., as determined by community rules.Communities may have different rules determining who may provide contentto the community.

Another way that community A 310 receives content is throughinter-community content delivery 330. Some embodiments allow for acommunity to designate another community as related. Related communitiesmay share content with each other. For example, a music community mayhave a jazz sub-community, and news posted to the music community mayalso be provided to the jazz sub-community. In some embodiments, allcontent provided to a sub-community may be automatically provided to theparent community.

Further, communities may also receive content through voluntarysubscription 310 and relevancy matching 220. Like users, communities mayhave profiles, activity modules (e.g., blogs) where content is posted,etc. The interests listed in a community profile, for example, may serveas the relevancy flags in determining relevancy to the community. Forexample, a community profile may list interests in cheese, Americancheese, Swiss cheese, Gouda, mozzarella, Gorgonzola, Havarti, and brie.That community profile may serve as relevancy flags with which tomeasure relevancy when content (e.g., a blog about cheddar) is posted tothe virtual social network (e.g., in a community of Wisconsinites). Ifthe tags associated with the content match the relevancy flags above athreshold level, community A 310 may then be delivered content based onthe relevancy matching 220. In another example, community A 310 may notlist any interests, but may designate multiple cheese-dedicatedcommunities as related communities and include multiple blog entries anddiscussions concerning cheese in the activity modules. Such relatedcommunities, activity modules, etc. serve as other relevancy flags thatmay also be matched against the tags of some content in determining therelevancy of the content to the community.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a system for content delivery in a virtualsocial network 110, according to an exemplary embodiment. Contentdelivery module 140 may include input/output module 410, contentdatabase module 420, relevancy module 430, content push module 440,content filter module 450, and processing logic 460.

Input/output module 410 is configured to allow for communication betweencontent delivery module 140, users of the virtual social network 110,and various other components of virtual social network 110. Input/outputmodule 410 may be configured to receive information via a communicationnetwork 150, such as the Internet or an intranet.

Content database 420 is configured to receive and store informationconcerning all of the content posted to virtual social network 110. Suchcontent may be provided by users of the virtual social network 110, byprofessional content developers, etc. The content stored in contentdatabase 420 is associated with various tags that describe the type ofcontent. In various embodiments, the tags may be determined by an authorof the content, by key words in the content title, content description,or content body, by an administrator, by users who have viewed thecontent, or any combination of the foregoing. Some embodiments of thepresent invention further allow for some types of tags to be weightedmore heavily than others in determining relevance of the content to auser. Content database 430 may also be configured to receive updatesconcerning new content, new tags associated with the content, etc.

Relevancy module 430 is configured to match the tags associated withcontent with the relevancy flags associated with a target user or targetcommunity. Tag information may be received directly through input/outputmodule 410 (e.g., from a user), or relevancy module 430 may consultcontent database 420 for tag information. The relevancy flags associatedwith a target may be stored in a user profile or a community profile.Relevancy-module 430, therefore, may also consult users module 120 orcommunities module 130 to access the relevancy flags associated with aparticular target. The tags are compared to the relevancy flagsassociated with a target to determine whether the content would be ofinterest to the target. If the number of matches rise to a thresholdlevel, the relevancy module 430 determines that the content is relevantto the target. The threshold level may be a number, a percentage,weighted average, etc. and may be determined by a network administrator,a moderator, the individual target, or the like.

If the content has been determined to be relevant to a particulartarget, content push module 440 provides the content or notification ofthe content to the target. In various embodiments of the presentinvention, the content push module 440 may send the content ornotification to the target via e-mail, RSS feed, private message,hyperlink, or the like. For example, a hyperlink to content determinedto be relevant may be posted in a community home page or in an activitymodule associated with a community. Alternatively, a user may receive ae-mail notification concerning content likely to be of interest to theuser based on the user's interests or activities in virtual socialnetwork 110.

Some embodiments of the present invention may include a content filter450. Content filter 450 enforces target preferences concerning contentdelivery. If a target has designated a preference to exclude certaincontent, then the delivery of that content (or notification of suchcontent) is blocked, despite relevance to the target. Such preferencesmay include user preferences, community rules, or a combination of theforegoing. A preference may apply to some or all content provided to thevirtual social network 110, content provided in a community, contentprovided by a user, content provided by a group of users, or the like.For example, a user may designate a preference excluding all contentfrom professional content developers. That user would still receivesubscribed content through voluntary subscription 210 (FIG. 2), as wellas content or notifications about content from content push module 440concerning unsubscribed content provided by nonprofessional users foundto be relevant by relevancy module 430. In another example, a communitymay have designated a preference (via a community moderator or the like)that all unsubscribed content be blocked, except for relevant contentauthored by user 160A. That community would still receive subscribedcontent through voluntary subscription 210, user posting 310,inter-community content 320, as well as content or notifications ofcontent from content push module 440 concerning content provided by user160A found to be relevant by relevancy module 430.

Processing logic 460 is configured to execute a variety of operationsrequired by the various components of content delivery module 140. Invarious embodiments, processing logic 460 may be implemented through useof microprocessors, memory, firmware, and/or software.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for content delivery in avirtual social network, according to an exemplary embodiment. In step510, tagged content is received. The content may include various kindsof articles, blogs, photos, etc. Provided by a user or professionalcontent developer through input/output module 410, the content may beuploaded, posted, or linked to through an activity module, for instance.The content may be associated with one or more tags describing the typeof content. In various embodiments, the tags may be designated by anauthor of the content, the content provider, a network administrator, acommunity moderator, users viewing the content, or the like.

In optional step 520, the content may be stored. Illustrated in FIG. 4,content database 420 may serve as a repository where informationconcerning content is stored for use in, among other things, relevancymatching. Other components of virtual social network 110, such asrelevancy module 430 (also illustrated in FIG. 4), may refer to contentdatabase 420 in making determinations involving the content. Step 520allows for the storage and archival of content in content database 420.Content from content database 420 may be provided to a new user to thevirtual social network or a present user with updated interests, forexample, based on the relevance of the content to the new or updatedinterests. Alternatively, skipping step 520 allows for automatic contentdelivery in real-time as the content is provided to the virtual socialnetwork.

In step 530, a determination is made as to whether the content isrelevant to a particular target. Relevancy is determined by relevancymodule 430, which considers tag information stored in content database420 and information concerning relevancy flags stored in users module120 (FIG. 1) and/or communities module (FIG. 1). Relevancy module 430compares the content tags with the relevancy flags associated with thetarget. If the matches between the tags and the relevancy flags meet athreshold level, the content is considered relevant and likely to be ofinterest to the target. If the content is relevant, the method proceedsto step 540. Otherwise, the method ends.

In step 540, a determination is made concerning the desirability of thecontent to the target. Various embodiments of the present inventionallow for users and communities of the virtual social network 110 todesignate preferences concerning desired and undesired content. Atarget's preference, for example, may designate some or all types ofunsubscribed content as being undesirable to the target. By referring tothese preferences, content filter 450 is able to block the undesirablecontent from being delivered to the target. If content is found to beundesirable based on target preferences, then content delivery bycontent push module 440 to the target is blocked, and the method ends.Step 540 may occur concurrently with or before step 530.

If the determination is made in step 540 that the content is notundesirable to the target, then in step 550, the content is provided tothe target. The content may be provided in various ways, including bye-mail, private message, etc. In some embodiments of the presentinvention, the target is provided with a notification of the content.For example, a target user may receive an e-mail notifying the user thatcontent found likely to be of interest to the user has just been postedin a blog in community A 310. The notification may further include ahyperlink to the content, a hyperlink to the blog, a hyperlink tocommunity A 310, a portion of the content, etc. In another example, atarget community may receive a notification in the form of a blog entry,news item, or the like. Alternatively, the content itself may be postedin the blog, news, etc. associated with the target community. In someembodiments of the present-invention, delivery of the content may beblocked based on the preferences of the content author, community rules,etc. concerning access. Access preferences are discussed in more detailin U.S. patent application titled “Selective Privacy Management inVirtual Social Networks” filed Oct. 24, 2007.

It will be understood that the methods of the invention are notnecessarily limited to the discrete steps or the order of the stepsdescribed with respect to FIG. 5. While the present invention has beendescribed in the context of a series of exemplary embodiments, thesedescriptions are not intended to limit the scope of the invention to theparticular forms set forth herein. To the contrary, the presentdescriptions are intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, andequivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims and otherwise appreciated byone of ordinary skill in the art.

1. A method for content delivery to a target in a virtual socialnetwork, the method comprising: receiving content provided to thevirtual social network, the content having been associated with one ormore tags; determining whether the content is relevant to a target inthe virtual social network based on matching the one or more tags withrelevancy flags associated with the target; determining whether thecontent is undesirable to the target based on at least preferencesdesignated by the target; and providing the content to the target basedon the determined relevancy and desirability of the content.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the target is a user of the virtual socialnetwork.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the target is a community inthe virtual social network.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprisingstoring the content in a content database.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising maintaining information concerning relevancy flags ina target database.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the relevancy flagscomprises profile information associated with the target.
 7. The methodof claim 1, wherein the relevancy flags comprises information derived bytracking activity of the target in the virtual social network.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising maintaining the preferenceinformation in a target database.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein thepreferences further comprise user preferences designated by the target.10. The method of claim 1, wherein the preferences further comprisecommunity rules.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein providing thecontent is further based on access preferences of an author of thecontent.
 12. A system for content delivery to a target in a virtualsocial network, the system comprising: a content database configured tostore information concerning content provided to the virtual socialnetwork, the information including one or more tags associated with thecontent; a target database configured to store information concerning atarget in the virtual social network; a relevancy module configured todetermine whether the one or more tags matches target information of atarget beyond a threshold level, as indicated by the content databaseand the target database respectively; and a content push moduleconfigured to deliver the content to the target based on at least thematches between the one or more tags and the target information, asdetermined by the relevancy module.
 13. The system of claim 12, whereinthe content database is further configured to receive updatedinformation concerning the content.
 14. The system of claim 12, whereinthe content database is further configured to receive contentinformation from a user of the virtual social network.
 15. The system ofclaim 12, wherein the content database is further configured to receivecontent information from a professional content developer.
 16. Thesystem of claim 12, wherein the target database is further configured tostore information derived by tracking activity of the target within thevirtual social network.
 17. The system of claim 12, wherein the targetis a user of the virtual social network system.
 18. The system of claim12, wherein the target is a community in the virtual social networksystem.
 19. The system of claim 12, further comprising a content filterconfigured to block content from being delivered to the target based onat least preferences designated by the target.
 20. A computer-readablestorage medium having stored thereupon executable computing instructionsfor performing a method comprising: receiving content provided to thevirtual social network, the content having been associated with one ormore tags; determining whether the content is relevant to a target inthe virtual social network based on matching the one or more tags withrelevancy flags associated with the target; determining whether thecontent is undesirable to the target based on at least preferencesdesignated by the target; and providing the content to the target basedon the determined relevancy and desirability of the content.
 21. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the executableinstructions further provide for maintaining the target information in atarget database, wherein the target information comprises informationconcerning activity of the target in the virtual social network.